Charges filed in Lexington High email fraud

A Lexington man has been charged in connection with a fraudulent email sent in May which mocked a reported hate crime at Lexington High School.

According to a press release from the Lexington Police Department, Maxwell Saltman, 18, was charged on July 24 with disruption of a school assembly, being a disorderly person, and unauthorized use of a town seal. He will be arraigned in Concord District Court on Sept. 20.

On May 4, a fake letter claiming to be from LHS' then-Principal Laura Lasa and sent out to LHS students and other members of the community. The letter maed fun of a hate incident that occurred at the school last week, Lexington School Superintendent Mary Czajkowski said at the time.

The letter mimicked a missive Lasa sent to the school community shortly after a swastika was discovered in a men's restroom at Lexington High School earlier that same week.The swastika was found at the same time Lexington High School was putting on the musical "Rags," about Jewish immigrants struggling in New York City in 1910.

The hoax letter was sent using mock school stationary, was attached to an email sent from an lpschools.org email address. Lpschools.org is not a web address associated with the Lexington Public Schools. The letter copied Lasa’s signature and much of her language from her letter, but inserted a crude sketch of male genitalia, and stated the image was a “a widely-known white supremacist hate symbol.”

The initial incident prompted discussions with members of the local clergy as well as the local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League and a small rally on Lexington's Battle Green. School and town officials reacted with shock and sadness to the initial incident, which was only compounded when the hoax email was sent.